Finding my Pot of Gold

Having just finished a day trip out to Ohio to pick up a HUO game (more on that later), I settled in to wrapping up my stay-cation that was heavily focused on arcade repairs and projects. I certainly wasn’t planning on picking up anymore games, isn’t that what we all say? While outside trying to do some sanding and priming we got hit with a heavy rain, afterwards the sky was emblazoned with an amazing full rainbow. I had seen plenty of rainbows, but never a full one in person. I took it as a sign that I was meant to find the Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow! She didn’t buy it 🙂 but I still scored the game.

So we really did have a rainbow and a few days later I scored the Pot of Gold off eBay. I probably paid too much, but I could pick it up and after talking to the seller, it sounded like a home use only cabinet. A pretty uncommon game and even more uncommon to be HUO. I had some arcade part sale cash burning a hole in my paypal account, so what the heck.

The seller was about 40 minutes away and turned out to be a local operator. He did have other games, but he was mostly into redemption style games and machines. His eBay pictures and description left out a few details, such as the drag damage and shoddy black paint used to cover it up. Or the weird gouges on the left side of the cab, almost like someone was digging their nails into the cab while playing. The drag damage is particularly amusing because the little nylon glides are worn down to the nail, when in the coin box is a brand new set of leg levelers! Overall the game is in amazing shape and still has that new cabinet smell when opened up.

When I asked the seller where he got the game he said it came from a bulk buy of redemption equipment. That seller used to work for Atlas Vending and had acquired the game new and stuck it in his basement. I tried to get contact information for the former Atlas employee, but he didn’t seem too interested in sharing. It would have been nice to learn a little more about the history. I exchanged contact info with the seller and told him to let me know if he came across any other interesting games and that I’d do the same for him in regard to redemption equipment. I was anxious to get home and see if the game would be an easy fix or would end up as an in depth repair.

This machine was clean inside and out. The pinball coin door looked brand new, the coin box has a lid and those pesky leg levelers, the inside of the cab is clean and free of rodent droppings, grime or other crud. The front bezel art and the control panel looked amazing with little or no damage. The wells monitor was super clean, and the pcb set almost NOS. While I couldn’t confirm this was a home use only cab, it sure looks like one to me.

According to the seller, the game sometimes worked. I unloaded the PoG at home and gave it a quick inspection. Everything seemed OK so I fired it up. I get lines on the screen, maybe horizontal collapse or just bad video, but I can coin it up and the game plays blind. My first thought was the loose edge connector, but then as I was looking it over I noticed the scorch marks on the power supply and powered off the game. I also noticed a Kaos sticker on the monitor and a couple of ID tags inside the cabinet. Looks like this game was originally a Kaos and was factory converted to Pot of Gold. That would explain the dragons on the front.

With the burn on the power supply and the monitor video issues I’d have my hands full trying to get this working. Hopefully luck is on my side and I’ll have it working soon.

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on Monday, September 15th, 2014 at 8:19 pm and is filed under Pot of Gold.
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